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Taxidermy Wolf Tutorial- Pt 2 by *Zhon:iconZhon:


©2008-2010 *Zhon
:iconzhon:

Artist's Comments

Here's Phase 1 of the Taxidermy Wolf Tutorial.
There will be more phases to come (like 5... I think)
Visit Phase 1 to start! : [link]
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9.) Carve off the foam eyebrows. They're almost always too shallow and not detailed enough. Gotta remember, the moulds that the companies make are meant to be popped out really fast, so you often suffer from lack of detail. Plus... Pushing skin into foam doesn't work half the time...
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10.) Leave the eye socket, just get rid of the eye brows and the lump under the eye (lower brow muscle).
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11.) Then put some holes in the eye sockets. This allows for maximum adhesion of the eyes.
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12.)Next! Mix up some Magic sculpt 50/50. Mix it until the colour blends and you don't get marbly streaks through it.
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13.) Fill the back pocket of the eyes with the Magic Sculpt, sortof creating a mushroom effect.
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14.) Blend the Magic sculpt to the eye socket so there is a smooth transition between materials.
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15.) From above, check to make sure the backs of your eyes are angled perpendicular to the middle seam line. (so the eyes will be looking foreward and not off to the side or cross eyed).
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16.) With calipers, check the distance of the pupils. A common mistake among taxidermists is that one eye is sunk in farther than the other. These ones are right on the dot! (literally!)
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17.) With a bubble level, check the even-ness of your pupil/iris height. Sometimes you'll end up having one eye higher than the other.
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18.) NOW THE REAL SCULPTING! With a piece of clay rolled like a cigar (for you small immature children, just make weiners) and put it right at the tear duct, arched over the eye, and smeared off at the back of the eye. Blend the top ridge to the form.
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19.) With another roll of clay, create the lower brow/cheek by starting at the tear duct and smearing it to the back. Blend the bottom ridge to the form.
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20.) Dog-like animals (even bears) have a muscular ridge on the top of their heads... sortof like a secondary eyebrow. On your dog, and even cats, you'll see this lump often sprouts out those long whisker hairs! You can mock this by blacing an oblong piece of clay into place and blending it to wards the middle of the form. This lump often overlaps the first upper brow.
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21.) This is what your first eye should look like. (It's OK if it isn't even!!! You'll fix that when you can actually visualize it with the skin on it!!! Lookit my sculpt... it pretty much sucks in my eyes.)
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22.) Match the other side to your first. Sometimes, if you really wanted to... you can re-do your first attempt.
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23.) My sort of trademark is the roman-lose look. I think it adds a little more of a masculine bulk to the face. Also, note from the side of the eyes, the curve of the brows as they meet. The upper brow will come down, sortof making the face look sad, but trust me, it goes away with the fur.
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24.) Another quirk I do is a "fang muscle" This sort of accentuates the broadness of the face and gives for a little more detail when the fur is put on it. Makes it look like there's POWER behind those teeth!
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25.) Blending of the fang muscle.
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26.) Front view of the fang muscles. Note how they aren't PROTRUDING.... but kindof soft.
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27.) When the fur is on, you want the cheek puffs to well... PUFF right? Add in a cheekpuff muscle by blending in a roll of clay along the side of the face. Normally it is from 2" behind the eye.
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28.) Your muscle modeling is done!!! Be sure to keep it semi-wet for the fur application!


I hope you all have enjoyed the sculpture part of the tutorial! Next is the fur application!!!!
:dance:

Comments


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:iconmarine-snow:
I totally did not know it took that much to get the figure... Have you ever actually gotten into sculpting and stuff? Like completely sculpted pieces from just like, clay and and a skeleton? I didn't notice anything in your gallery that was sculpted, and I think you'd be pretty good at that, rofl, given the expression you worked with on this guy. I have no idea what I'm talking about.

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:iconcel3131:
Wow, I had no idea anything like this went into Taxidermy. Woman, you are pro!

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Spider love! *huuuugs* [link]
:iconleodragon42:
Wow- that's alot of work. Like painting and such....it doesnt take much to look at it, but alot goes to make it :) Cant wait to see the next steps. What a cool tutorial :D

--
Now's the time to rearrange your life
live for something outside of your own mind
we all dream the same dream every night
to burn the world that you call civilized
:icondarcum:
Awesome- again :D The fur application should be interesting

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:iconrheazblaze:
Wow, that's really impressive, very artistic as well. That's so awesome, though. It looks a little freaky as you start adding the sculpting clay. Like you're replacing the lost sinew and muscle with new. Totally great stuff!

--
"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."

Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.
:iconqarrezel:
Yay! The forehead on my wolf mask isn't completely wrong!! I feel better now.

I'm very excited to see the rest of this!
:iconaichan25:
this is so totally helpful,...now i only wish i had the money to start on my mask...

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Clubs I'm in YoungInfatuation & TeenTitans
:iconcehualli:
Out of curiosity, I've read that some of the old types of taxidermy used the animal's real skull instead of the foam forms that are used today, why was that practice stopped? Is it because bone tends to degrade faster? Heavier than foam? More fragile? It seems like starting with the structure the animal really had and then rebuilding the lost muscle mass would end up with a more true-to-life version of what that individual animal used to be, to me at least. There are so many differences between individuals that a one-size-fits-all foam base doesn't seem like the most accurate approach.
:iconcehualli:
Oh, and thank you for the tutorial! It's really interesting and helpful to see the actual process being done. :)
:iconerebusnyx:
I think part of the season has to be that if you take the skull you have to boil it and clean it to get all the muschle and tissue off/out, then you'd have to use clay to build up the facial structure anyways. I think thats the reason why. Using a mold like this cuts down on time, not to mention preserves the quality of the mount.

*Zhon could answer it better. Sorry, just had to toss in my thoughts.

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"When your god gives you lemons, YOU FIND A NEW GOD. GODBERRY. King of the Juice!!!" (Thank you Sam)

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October 23, 2008
5.3 MB
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